Friday, August 18, 2006

Please Stop Googling, Just search!!

Afterall Google is a search engine and not a googling engine, no?
Google thinks that using Google as a generic verb is damaging its brand.

Excerps from a Zdnet Article:


The Internet search giant said such phrases were potentially damaging to its brand.

"We think it's important to make the distinction between using the word 'Google' to describe using Google to search the Internet and using the word 'google' to generally describe searching the Internet. It has some serious trademark issues," a representative for the search company said.

Julie Coleman, an authority on linguistics from the University of Leicester, said she could understand Google's concerns.

"The prestige associated with a trademark is lost if people use it generically, so I do see Google's point. They also do lots more than just search, so maybe they're reluctant for their brand name to be restricted in this way," Coleman said.

But Coleman added that once new words enter into common usage, it is impossible to stop their use.

"Google can't possibly stop the spread of the verb," Coleman said. "Normal people are using it in normal conversation and in writing, and they aren't likely to face legal proceedings."

What Google could do, said Coleman, is "force dictionaries to mention its origin in a trademarked brand name, which is what the Oxford English Dictionary already does."

It is true that brand building has more to do with wide recognition of the brand than anything else, and recognition of the brand with what it stands for. If thanda matlab Coca cola, why does google not want to associate Google with search? Isn't it what it means? What more would a brand manager love than for the brand it is promoting to be used as a generic verb that has been added to the Oxford Dictionary?

But of course, you are right! Search is just of the things that google does. It is true that Google still is the numero uno in search, and that many people clicks those sponsored links on the SERP, it is also a fact that Google made almost a Billion from its adsense program last year which has nothing to do with googling. Google is a Phenomenon, not even just a media company, as many claims. Google is everything but a search engine, it just happens to own the best search engine today!

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